Govt to contest K300 million claim
Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda says he will contest a K300 million claim which Timothy Ntilosanje, who was acquitted of a murder charge in 2020, has sued the police for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.
Ntilosanje, alongside three others, was arrested in 2020 in relation to the death of his girlfriend Kotanna Chidyaonga in Lilongwe. The High Court acquitted the four the same year, having spent 34 days on remand.
In an interview yesterday, Nyirenda said he will contest the claim because there was reasonable cause for arresting the accused persons.
He said: “Two pathologists found that the deceased died of poison. The mere fact of an acquittal does not entitle someone a claim of compensation for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.”
According to court summons, delivered to the AG’s office on behalf of Malawi Police Service, Ntilosanje claims that due to the murder charge he lost business, employment and academic scholarship, among other damages suffered.
Reads the summons in part: “Our client is a digital marketer, brand strategist and businessman and his image and standing in society has been tarnished because to a marketer, image is everything and our client lost that image when he was vigorously prosecuted and spent months in prison for an offence he did not do and he has since been termed as a murderer despite being acquitted by the High Court…”
Chidyaonga’s death sparked controversy in the medical profession. Pathologist Charles Dzamalala concluded that the cause of death was termic poisoning and not an earlier claim of snakebite by the accused.
However, other medical experts, including pathologist Dr. Steve Kamiza, Dr. Samson Mndolo and Dr. Frank Sinyiza held a different position that the cause of death was due to administration of a wrong drug.
Acting on a complaint from Ntilosanje, three medical practitioners including Dzamalala have been found at fault for their role in Chidyaonga’s death.
Last year the Medical Council of Malawi (MCM) also found Dzamalala guilty for “definitively concluding that the late Kottana Chidyaonga died of termic poison”. Dzamalala is contesting this verdict.
